Mel B, performing at 2001's
South Africa Freedom Day concert.
Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA
They're on! They're off!! They're on again. Oh, no, they're off. It seems finally that the much debated Spice Girls' Live 8 reunion is being blocked by Mel B. Interviewed yesterday on Richard and Judy, Bob Geldof said that "one of them has difficulty going back to something she did in the past," and conceded that the spanner in the works appeared to be Mel B.
With Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, UB40 and Sting among the performers at the London gig, the event screams nostalgia. So why is Mel B so coy about joining in the fun? It's not as if she has a flourishing singing career of her own to nurture these days.
Even so, I have to admit to a sneaking respect for her decision, not least because that means we won't have to watch Posh doing that pointing thing she used to do again. (Is she the only pop star whose nails were more expressive than her face? but I digress.)
